Modern security protocols are highly flexible and configurable. Many options may be implemented and configured, and these options may have a strong impact on the security of the systems that employ these implementations. One example of a security protocol is Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Single Sign-On (SSO) (hereinafter referred to as SAML SSO). The SAML SSO protocol may define an XML-based format for encoding security assertions as well as a number of protocols and bindings that prescribe how the assertions should be exchanged in a wide variety of applications and/or deployment scenarios. Typically, this is done to the minimum extent necessary to guarantee the interoperability among different implementations. As a consequence, the SAML SSO protocol may have a relatively large number of configuration options ranging from optional fields in messages, the usage of different communication channels, encryption and/or digital signature options for sensitive message elements. These options as well as other configuration options may need to be instantiated according to the requirements posed by the application scenario and the available security mechanisms.
Vendors of a security protocol such as the SAML SSO protocol, while striving to meet the requirements posed by their application scenario, may overlook the security implications associated with the choice of some configuration options, which may have negative consequences on the security of the application. Also, the SAML SSO protocol may be applied in complex heterogeneous landscapes usually including entities (e.g., server provider entities, identity provider entities, etc.) belonging to different organizations. Further, some of these organizations may employ an implementation of these entities provided by third parties such that the implementation details may be difficult to access.